Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by RetroTechie 18 days ago
Air bubbles from ancient atmosphere caught in ice -> historic CO2 levels -> historic average global temps.

This is fairly 1:1 linkage, and the Earth-heating effect of atmospheric CO2 was established in what, early 20th century or so?
1 comments
qsera 18 days ago
>historic CO2 levels -> historic average global temps

But this seems to imply that global temperatures are only dependent on CO2 levels. That is a pretty flawed assumption...

link
RetroTechie 18 days ago
No this is 'calibrated' against other research like fossils (indicating which species were living where & when) & probably more.

It's called science for a reason... (not back-of-a-napkin stuff)

link
qsera 18 days ago
But those are unreliable as well...

See, since it seems that you are convinced yourselves, can you tell me how accurately the past temperature can be assessed by using this method? I mean +/- how many degrees?

link
inigyou 18 days ago
Can you tell me any answer you'd accept?
link
qsera 18 days ago
Accept? Why should any one "accept" anything without good reason?
link
inigyou 17 days ago
It sounds like you wouldn't accept any answer. Why ask the question, then?
link
RetroTechie 18 days ago
> But those are unreliable as well...

Can you tell me how many research papers on this specific subject you have read, before coming to that conclusion?

Hint: chances are you're correct (!). Size of the error bars, timeframe(s) talked about, how data was gathered, how results were processed etc, that is what such papers are about. Educate yourself! (Wikipedia is usually a good start)

link
qsera 18 days ago
None. It goes against my common sense. That is why I am asking what accuracy can this method give. I am asking that to people who are already seemingly convinced that the methods listed (fossil records, ice-cores) can be accurate..
link
RetroTechie 17 days ago
Common sense?!? That applies to things you're experiencing on a daily basis. That you're intimately familiar with.

Not to things occurring when your great-great-great-great... (repeat a couple 1000x) ...great-great-great-grandparents were around.

Maybe you'd be so kind & at least check part of a Wikipedia article?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleoclimatology#Reconstructin...

10min to go from clueless to "I've read something about how this knowledge came about".

link